Handoff analysis : an information theory approach

The growing of applications in wireless networks and the necessity of providers of increasing the capacity of the network give as a result that architecture of cells tends to be each time smaller. Consequently, the handoff frequency tends to increase and the load in the network becomes high. In mobile radio communications, the handoff algorithms represent a critical issue for future pico and micro cellular networks in third-generation mobile services (3G). Also, cell selection is an essential part of wireless cellular communications with potential of providing a high quality of service and balance load in the network. The performance of the handoff algorithms is evaluated in terms of the capacity and mutual information. An analytic model based on mutual information is developed for evaluating the performance of handoff algorithms based on relative signal strength measurements. The analysis includes the incorporation of position of mobile system as criteria of decision in the handoff mechanism. This decision obeys to new requirements of FCC in where the subscriber's position location must be accomplished by the service providers within a specific accuracy. The use of mutual information help to visualize undesirable effects such as premature and unnecessary handoffs which impacts the quality the QoS offered to users. The analysis is carry out in two different scenarios. The first one considers only two adjacent cells where there is just one candidate cell, which we have called "mutual information of handoff mechanism in collinear case system". The other scenario takes into account all the pool of candidate cells where the handoff mechanism selects the best base station to give service to mobile called "mutual information of handoff mechanism in collinear case system".